In a first for Punjab and country, prize money of nearly Rs. 10 Lakh will be awarded for an Inter School Championship being organized by Punjab Rifle Shooting Association (PRSA) to be held on August 23 to 25 at Gobind College Narangwal in district Ludhiana.This attempt to popularize Shooting as a sport at the grassroots level came about soon after Revenue Minister Mr. Bikram Majithia was unanimously elected President of the PRSA. First prize of Rs. 21000, second prize of Rs. 15000 and the third prize of Rs. 11000 would be given along with the gold, silver and bronze medals to the winners respectively. As many as 200 students representing 90 schools are participating in the championship. The boarding and lodging arrangements would be made by the government.
Disclosing this here today a spokesman of the government said that Shooting as a sport would be given due importance and world-class infrastructure would be created for rifle shooters in the state. He also said that to begin with, the PRSA would set up shooting ranges in Amritsar, Bathinda, SAS Nagar Mohali and Ludhiana and similar infrastructure would be created at other places also.The 14th edition of Inter-School Shooting Championship would be inaugurated by Mr. Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, PWD Minister Punjab where as Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia, Revenue Minister and Mr. Sikhandar Singh Maluka, Education Minister would be the chief guests on the concluding day celebrations. Renowned shooter Ronjan Sodhi a recipient of the Arjuna award would interact with the participants on the concluding day and encourage them to excel in shooting and achieve greater heights.